Mauser 71/84 range report

J

jrfoxx

New member
Well, I just took my Prussian Mauser 71/84 in original 11.15x60R, serial # 4XXX from 1884, that I spent MONTHS restoring from a $21 badly rusted barreled receiver I got from SOG (amazingly all the markings were in great condition though!), into an ALMOST fully functional (Its currently a single shot, as the only part I cant find is a magazine follower :(), all original parts (painstakingly scrounged and assembled over several months), out for the first time last saturday.What a hoot! 370gr LRN over 75gr of Goex Fg powder.A nice low, deep BOOM, VERY mild recoil, LOTS of thick white stinky (the good stinky :)) smoke, and was even pretty accurate (as best I could tell, I had no rest, and only had a 40yd space to shoot, also forgot to bring anything to drift the front sight:banghead:).This is now tied with my flintlock rifle, and my m1 Garand as my favorite rifles to shoot.I also like how it "fills the gap" as it were, between muzzleloaders and smokeless cartridge guns in the evolution of firearms. Sadly, I only have 10 pieces of brass, so I didnt really get to enjoy it for very long (or at a proper distance with a rest to see what it can REALLY do).Well, I'm hooked on BP, and BPCR's now, thats for sure.Oh well, what else better do I have to do with my time and money? Anything I have left when I die, the Gvt. will just take anyway, so might as well enjoy it now (oh, the wife DOES make me share some of the money with her, but that's ok :D).Well, I'm off to order about 30 more pieces of brass and 100 or so more bullets for the next range trip!

ooo, almost forgot to add that the only thing I didn't really enjoy was the cleanup.Man, after only 10 rounds, this thing was 10 times dirtier than my flintlock after 20 or 30 rounds! TONS of thick, jet black, muck.Took LOTS of water, soap, solvent, and patches to get clean...but its still worth it.:D

For those interested, all total I have about $350 into the gun, which isnt too shabby, since they tend to start around $600 on the Auction Arms, Gunbroker, etc.
SOG still has these "relics" for sale last flyer I saw.If your looking for a fun, unique gun, and a fun, longer tern project, I HIGHLY recommend picking one up.This was the most extensive restoration/build/rebuild I'd ever done.Had a great time, learned a fair bit, and got to practice lots of different cleaning/assembly/restoration techniques.
for $21, mine came as a barrel, receiver, and trigger group.Thats all (oh and a few rusted screws holding a rotted thing that was one the buttstock, that had to be drilled/cut out)

Here she is an all her 120 year old glory:
mauser7184.jpg
 
Thanx for a great report on a fine piece of firearms history.

Question about your cleaning situation?
Did you by chance use any petroleum based lubricant in the bore of the rifle & not get it all out?
Did you use any natural based lubricants before firing or during the loading process of your cartridges?

on different occasions I've had a similar issue as you describe when I had used a petroleum based lube in the barrel of one of my C&B revolvers & also had that issue when I didn't season my bore after I had cleaned my .54 Hawken & just loaded it right up afterwards for next days hunting.
 
hmmmm, you know, the whole thig DID have a light coat of Remoil on/in it to protect it for the months while I was scrounging parts and then waiting to get dies and go shoot it.I dont beleive I ran any patches down the bore prior to firing (as I nevr do with ANY of my other guns, so I dont know why I would have), as I always oil all my guns very lightly, so I never patch them 100% dry before firing, so there was likely a tiny bit of Remoil in the barrel.....Very interesting idea, thanks! I'l make sue its (and m other BP guns) have all the Remoil 100% out (I use it for protection during storage on ALL my guns) and some of my Hoppes BP solvent/lube (which is what I use as a patch lube and for cleaning after shooting and during shooting when it they start to get kind of tight loading) IN before firing next time and see what happens.Hadnt ever heard of of petroleum lube/solvents and BP eualling messy....
Thanks for the tip.
 
After cleaning "soap & water clean up that is" & drying, I allways run a patch with a generous amount of Bore Butter on it to protect my Muzzle Loader barrels & Cylinders & when I get ready to shoot & just run a dry patch through to get any that may be a little heavy in spots, then shoot away.

Like I said I used some Hoppes oil once & had that happen, since then I have kept all my cleaning gear for my modern guns separate from my Muzzle Loader gear, makes life a little simpler.
 
You can still run an oily patch down your bore jrfoxx, just use straight olive oil instead of the Rem oil. I've never used Bore Butter like Raider does since I always made my own lube, but the real active ingredient in my home made lube is the olive oil, the beeswax is just in there to make it stiff enough to stay in lube rings. I used to try to lube my barrels with my home made lube and had trouble getting coverage with it due to it's consistency unless I heated the barrel. One day I had one of those 'well DUH' moments when I was trying to thin a mixture I had previously added something to which made it thicker, and I just put straight olive oil on my patch.

Bore Butter will work just fine as a lubricant. I imagine it's thicker than straight oil, though, and might be harder to apply evenly than straight oil. The Bore Butter people are using SOME sort of vegetable oil as a base, and I bet you can buy the straight oil cheaper than you can buy the completed, blessed and sanctified commercial product. For final lubrication after cleaning, the straight vegetable oil is all you need.

Steve
 
For all my moving parts like in all my C&B revolvers I use vegetable oil & I too make my own Crisco/bees wax lube but being that I have used Bore Butter & every one knows about it I thought to just give that bit of a plug.

But for any storage time I usually swab the bore with the grease lube to where it stays in place by comparison...
 
Thanks for all the lube tips guys.When I run out of my Hoppes BP lube/solvent, I'll whip some up and give it a try.
 
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